Shulman High
by AEM77
Summary: What if instead of gynecologists, they were high school students?
1. Chapter 1

Danny spares a glance at the strange tall boy walking besides him out of the corner of his eye as the two walk along the empty corridor, the occasional student rushing past them hurrying off to class. He wonders what kind of school Shulman High must be that they've sent Morgan Tookers, currently telling a rather elaborate story about his stint in juvie for stealing bikes, to be his guide on his first day.

"I mean it wasn't really _stealing_, you know? More like liberating them for a little profit. Is that so wrong?" Morgan asks.

It sounds pretty wrong to Danny but he merely shrugs noncommittally. This is his senior year and he can't believe this is how it's beginning. He should be back home at his old school with Stevie and the rest of his friends. But his Mom had wanted to 'make a fresh start of it' or something and here they were. It wasn't all bad, he figures. At least he wouldn't have to worry about running into Christina everyday.

They turn into the cafeteria where Morgan informs him he can get Beverly, the lunch lady, to make them a special sandwich dubbed 'The Loch Ness Morgan', "Double meat, double cheese, double sauce and double bread. It will give you killer diarrhea, but it's worth it!"

Danny is immensely relieved when Morgan is distracted from his culinary mission by a group of girls huddled around a fashion magazine. Danny recognizes the tan white-toothed face smiling out from the cover as one of those heartthrob actors who is always starring in those cheesy romantic comedies.

"Hello ladies," Morgan croons, "Tamra," he adds with a particular nod to a pretty African-American girl who throws back a lazy, "Hey," before returning to the magazine.

Undeterred, Morgan presses on, "May I introduce, Daniel Mussolini Castellano our newest student here at Shulman High."

"Actually, my name's not Muss-" Danny begins in mortification as Tamra and her friends merely stare back at him blankly, "Forget it," he huffs. "Danny. It's Danny. You can call me Danny."

"Hello, Danny," a cute petit brunette greets holding out her hand to him like a Disney princess, "I'm Betsy Punch. Welcome to Shulman High!"

"Um, hello?" Danny responds taking her hand by the fingertips and jiggling them up and down a bit. Betsy seems unperturbed by the awkwardness of the gesture and continues on happily introducing him to the rest of her group. "And this is Tamra," Tamra sends another tired 'Hey' back to him to match the one she'd given Morgan. "And Gwen," He exchanges a polite wave with a pretty blonde girl. "And this is Mindy," Betsy motions to the remaining girl seated at their table who is still immersed in her magazine. "Just one sec," comes a squeaky voice from behind its pages. "I am just finishing up this quiz. "There," she says with satisfaction flinging the magazine onto the lunch table revealing a round face with shiny brown skin and sparkling eyes, "I knew I was an Autumn! They tried to tell me I was a Spring at the mall last weekend," she finishes with indignation. Then rising from her seat, she comes around the table to where Danny and Morgan are standing.

"Hello Danny. I am Mindy Lahiri. And it is my awesome pleasure to welcome you to Shulman High," she smiles brightly holding out her hand to him as well. Danny wonders what is up with all the handshakes in this school as he takes her small hand in his own and gives a weak, "Hey."

"You are going to love it here," she continues cheerfully, "We've got the welcome back mixer coming up. I'm on the planning committee and it is going to be killer. Next month is spirit week…" As she continues to prattle on in her high pitched voice about all the upcoming social events at Shulman High, Danny finds himself getting more and more annoyed. He's just uprooted his life so that his Mom can get away from the memory of his deadbeat Dad. Not to mention finding out his girlfriend of two years has been making out with his buddy Pauly behind his back. He could give two shits that the playlist for the Sadie Hawkins Dance is filled with Rhianna songs.

"Yeah," he interrupts her rudely, "I'm not really into all that stuff."

It's actually impressive how quickly her voice goes from happy and high-pitched to low and dangerous, "Excuse me? You're not into what stuff, Danny?" she spits out his name like its distasteful to her. "Fun?"

"That stuff's fun for you? Pretty ridiculous if you ask me."

"Well I didn't ask you," she replies. "Excuse me for being friendly. Enjoy the rest of your school year." She finishes with a huff marching away. The others rise up to follow sending him sidelong looks as they go. Great. He's been here for ten minutes and already he's managed to piss off a handful of pretty girls.

Whatever. He isn't here to make friends, especially not one's who think magazine quizzes are adequate barometers of personality and pep rallies are the pinnacle of a good time. He just needs to put his head down, do well enough in his classes to get a scholarship and then he's home free. Just one year. He can do this, he reassures himself.

"Don't worry about Mindy," Morgan chimes in beside him. "She's totally crazy."

"I know, right?" Danny readily agrees. "Getting so pissy, just cause I don't care about her stupid dance. She's a little nutjob."

"Oh no," Morgan clarifies. "She was right about that. You were a total dick. I meant it's crazy she thinks she's an Autumn. Girl is totally a Winter."

Danny heaves a loud audible sigh. It's going to be a long year.

"Cheer up, little buckaroo!" Morgan booms at him with an overly rough pat on the back. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to my crew, 'The Best Friend's Club For Dudes'. They'll love you." Morgan starts off across the cafeteria to where three boys are sitting around a table. Danny trails behind him as Morgan turns around to add, "Just try not to be a total douche to them like you were to the girls, okay?"

"Right. Don't be a dick," Danny mutters behind him. Yeah, it's going to be a_ really_ long year.


	2. Chapter 2

About halfway across the room, Morgan breaks into a trot beside him, rushing to his table of friends and muttering excitedly to himself again and again, "He's doing it. He's doing it!"

"Who's doing what?" Danny asks in confusion quickening his steps slightly to keep pace.

"My buddy Pete," Morgan answers excitedly stopping in front of the table where two boys sit on either side of a third who has his cheeks puffed out in a comical expression. "He's doing the Cinnamon Challenge!" Morgan joins the other boys in counting excitedly.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Danny asks pulling up alongside Morgan.

"What, are you some sort of doctor?" One of the boys asks in a British accent.

"No, it's just…" Danny begins to defend himself. It _is_ dangerous. He remembers reading about some kid from Jersey who went to the hospital a few months back after trying it.

But he is interrupted by Morgan who laughs heartily, "Dr. Castellano. Dr. C. It has a nice ring to it!"

"For the last time, just call me Danny. Alright?"

But Morgan is spared a response by the huge cloud of cinnamon that comes shooting out of the boy, Pete's, mouth and all over Danny.

"What was my time?" He asks excitedly completely ignoring the mess he's made.

"Only 43 seconds," the third boy notes sadly. "Better luck next time."

"What the hell, man?" Danny asks angrily trying unsuccessfully to wipe himself free of the cinnamon dust currently coating his face and chest.

"Oh dude!" Pete exclaims just now taking in the sight of Danny. "I am crazy sorry for the spice shower brosef!"

Before Danny can respond, Morgan places his arm around him bringing him into an awkward side hug and begins, "Friends," and then after a pause "Brothers," he adds with a significant look at the others. "May I introduce you to our newest 'best friend', Danny Castellano." He releases him to give a brief but enthusiastic round of applause that none of the others join in for before continuing, "Dr. C, this is Pete, Jeremy and Cliff."

"Hey," Danny says generally to the group, sitting with a huff and reaching for a pile of napkins.

"I've been showing Danny the ropes," Morgan tells them sitting down himself. "Introducing him to some of Shulman High's loveliest attendees," he singsongs looking back to where Tamra and her friends were sitting.

"Dude," Pete begins in exasperation, "Give it a break with the Tamra stuff, okay?"

"I wasn't talking about anyone in particular," Morgan mutters guiltily.

"She would never go for you," Pete continues. "Even if she weren't practically married to that 3 time junior Ray-Ron, she's a LA 10, bro! And you, and I say this from a place of love," he qualifies, "are the ugly step brother of a Michigan 1."

"But we work so well together," Morgan argues quickly abandoning his feigned indifference. "Remember when we built that set together for _Godspell_ last year?"

"Morgan," the boy named Cliff chimes in, "that set collapsed."

"Yeah," Morgan reluctantly admits, but…"

"Shauna Dicanio was out for 2 weeks in traction." Morgan looks ready to argue some more when Cliff exclaims, "She ended up transferring schools!"

"What's the deal with that Indian girl? Mindy, I think her name was?" Danny asks still miffed by their argument from earlier.

Pete and Morgan giggle at this as Pete says, "Why don't you ask Jeremy. You know how much British dudes like their curry."

"Jeremy and Mindy are hooking up," Morgan whispers to Danny needlessly translating Pete's crude remark.

"Pete, that is incredibly offensive," Jeremy begins, "and if you must know, I'm thinking of ending my little trysts with Mindy. Last weekend she wanted to take me to some kind of doll's tea party," he explains with a grimace, "which is decidedly outside the job description of a casual hook-up."

"Just make sure you end things nicely," Cliff says and Danny suspects from his tone that his interest in Mindy may not be entirely platonic. Shame. Up until then, Cliff had seemed like the most normal of the group to Danny. But no one who was interested in Mindy could be playing with a full deck.

Just then the bell rings and students begin shuffling out of the cafeteria on their way to class.

"C'mon Dr. C," Morgan calls. "We've got Home Ec next. We're making gingerbread houses today!"

Danny perks up a bit at this news. Maybe Shulman High won't be so bad after all.


	3. Chapter 3

He's a full 5 minutes early for his first AP Biology class the next day. As he sits waiting at a lab bench in the empty dim classroom, he randomly thumbs through his textbook. Danny is a good student and he enjoys school, but Biology has always been his favorite subject. He likes the order and organization of biological systems, likes their regularity and relative predictability. His Dad might ditch town, Christina might break his heart, but he could always trust that that broken heart would still beat at an average of 80 beats per minute. Maybe it's this constancy that makes him want to be a doctor.

Though he was just a little kid at the time, Danny can still remember the day his brother Richie was born. The obstetrician came out to see him in the waiting room and had appeared nothing short of God-like. Ever since, Danny's wanted to be a ob/gyn. Not to 'look at cans all day' like Stevie joked, but rather to be the person who got to bring a new human being into the world.

As the minutes pass the room begins to fill up with his classmates all falling into a well-established pattern of sitting amongst their friends, leaving the seat beside Danny free. Just as the bell rings, Danny recognizes Jeremy and Peter, 2 of the boys from the lunchroom, rushing into class. They give a quick up nod of acknowledgement before sitting a few seats in front of him. Danny is just about to congratulate himself on avoiding being partnered with anyone, when a flustered Mindy Lahiri comes peeling into the classroom with a breathless apology to the teacher. She looks around for an open seat, eyes finally settling on the one beside him. Moving towards it, she hesitates only slightly when she recognizes him in the neighboring spot.

He manages to mostly ignore her for the first 15 minutes of class, despite the overly flower smell of her shampoo and her excruciatingly loud outfit. Inevitably though comes the moment when their teacher finishes the lecture and the students around them begin busying themselves with their lab. Though he moves in his chair to face her, she takes a moment staring blankly up at the blackboard muttering something to herself about Beyonce and Thai food before pivoting in her seat and looking back at him.

"Hello Danny," she begins coldly. "What are you doing in this class? Shouldn't you be in 'How to be a D-bag 101'?"

"See now that implies I'd need _lessons_ to be an effective D-bag" He grins back at her, "When I think what you trying to say is that I already _am_ a D-bag."

"God! Yes Danny you are. You're doing a great job at it," she says in annoyance.

"I think the real question is what are _you _doing here," he counters. "Doesn't Shulman have, like a Fashion course or something?" He asks gesturing to her very trendy clothing.

"Okay, first of all. I know you're trying to be funny," she overemphasizes the 'trying', "but a fashion course is a fabulous idea. Do you know, just this morning I saw Brendan Deslaurier wearing a pair of Birkenstocks with Chinos?" She finishes with a shudder.

"I don't know those words," Danny begins to reply in agitation.

"And secondly," she says forcefully interrupting him, "I'll have you know this is my favorite class. I am going to be a hot young gynecologist one day," she finishes proudly.

This makes Danny laugh a bit cruelly, "You do know gynecologists' help women with their reproductive systems, not their shoe collections, right?"

"Rude much?" She asks in indignation. "If you must know, my Mom is an ob/gyn and she's always been my personal idol. I can't wait to follow in her footsteps," Mindy finishes more quietly.

He stares openly at her at this, trying to wrap his head around how he and this strange girl could have such similar aspirations. "What are you staring at?" She asks after a moment when the silence between them starts to feel uncomfortable.

"Nothing," Danny answers looking away guiltily. "It's just that my Mom is my idol too." He chances a look back at her and finds she is giving him a tentative smile. He sends her a lopsided grin. And as they hold each other's gaze once more Danny wonders if he perhaps has misjudged Mindy.

"Of course, my _hair_ idol is Maria Menounos." she says brightly breaking the moment between them. Or maybe his first impression was right after all, he thinks with a heavy sigh.

"Alright. Let's get started," he says taking in the set of test tubes in front of them and the teacher's notes on the board. They are studying enzymatic reactions and Danny has the advantage of having gone through a similar lab at his old school not too long ago.

"Well it says here to first add solute A to solvent B," Mindy begins putting on a pair of glasses and reading from the lab manual. "Are those the instructions?" Danny asks. Mindy nods and hands him the papers.

"Great." He answers and rips the stack in 2, "Don't need 'em," he grins cockily at her. Mindy may have been reluctant to partner up with him at first, but he's pretty confident she'll be pleased with his results. Danny's always been at the top of his class in the past and he has no intention of letting anything be different here at Shulman.

Half an hour later when they're the first group to finish, she beams excitedly between him and the test tubes filled with solutions of varying colors indicating they'd performed the lab correctly. He's feeling pretty proud of himself too until one of the solutions begins to froth, bubbling over and staining the cream colored sleeve of Mindy's sweater a deep and very permanent-looking purple.

Later that day as he's walking past some lockers he hears the unmistakably squeak of Mindy's voice as she converses with the blonde girl, Gwen, he'd met his first day.

"What happened?" Gwen asks in horror taking Mindy's sleeve between her fingers.

"Danny Castellano happened." Mindy states angrily. "Stupid handsome jerk was too proud to use directions."

Danny smiles to himself as he heads off to his next class. Frankly, he's been called worse. And hearing Mindy call him handsome is surprisingly flattering. 'I work with what I got,' he thinks to himself as he struts along the hallway and off to class.


	4. Chapter 4

"Danny," Mindy whines poking him in the ribs with her toes.

"Hmm?" He answers distractedly. They are seated on a couch in the study lounge. Or rather, he's seated. Mindy is sprawled out next to him, her feet infringing onto his half of the cushions.

"Danny!" She continues more insistently, her poking evolving into a more aggressive shove.

"What?" He asks finally laying aside the large tome of Shakespeare he's been reading onto a side table. He and Mindy have been lab partners for a little over a month now and for the most part it's been as horrible as he'd imagined. For one thing she can never be silent and more often than not the things that come out of her mouth are borderline ridiculous. Because of Mindy, Danny now knows more than he'd ever wanted to about bored fame-seeking housewives of various American metropolises and been subjected to some 'documentary' about a group of British kids in desperate need of haircuts. 'Documentary?' He'd laughed at her, 'Baseball by Ken Burns. Now _that's_ a documentary!'

"I need your help," she tells him earnestly sitting up along the side of the couch and tucking her feet beneath her.

"With what?" He asks. She certainly didn't seem like she'd been studying, he notes thinking she's talking about schoolwork. "I've got a big English exam coming up," he adds gesturing to his discarded textbook.

"Shakespeare," she says in disgust. "Ugh. Danny. Forget about that hack. Do you know I heard he didn't even write those plays. It was his butler," she adds in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Yeah, no. I'm pretty sure that's not true" He sighs hoping she'll get to the point soon. "What is it you want?" 

"I need your help getting Casey Peerson to make out with me," she announces cheerfully like she's just proposed something incredibly enjoyable rather than totally insane.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can't help you with whatever little 'boy trap' you've got planned," he says reaching for his Shakespeare once more.

"But you can though," she whines reaching across him to swat his hand away from the book. "Listen Casey is going out for Jesus in the spring production of _Jesus Christ Superstar_ and I am going to get the role of Mary Magdelene. We are going to spend every afternoon together rehearsing, falling in love, and tonguing in the courtyard" she finishes triumphantly.

"What if he doesn't get the part?" Danny asks. He wonders if she ever thinks through any of these crazy schemes she comes up with.

"He will, Danny. He totally will. I don't think anyone else is even interested. Although, Brendan Deslaurier did tell Tamra she ought to try out for Jesus, something about it being more historically accurate. She does have a killer voice…" she adds thoughtfully.

"And what if _you_ don't get the part?" Mindy's definitely a drama queen, though he isn't sure if that would really transfer to the stage.

"That is where you come in my friend," she says happily clapping him on the shoulder. "Now normally I detest your sense of style and would never come to you for advice."

"Naturally." He replies with a roll of his eyes.

"But, Ms. Neuhauser is directing the musical this year and she loves you," Mindy explains. It was true. Their history teacher had taken a shine to him after he'd been the only one in the class to be able to correctly place Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia. "I need your help to, you know dress bad and act like an old person, like you do, so that she'll like me and cast me as Mary. I need you to come with me to the mall. I need you, Danny Castellano, to be my personal shopper."

"No way," he states definitively. Sometimes Mindy is crazy even by Mindy standards.

"Is this because of our personal relationship?" She asks in a tone of total seriousness.

"What?!" He laughs, because really the idea that they have any kind of relationship is ludicrous. "We don't have a personal relationship. We're lab partners; that's it. My relationship with you is about as personal as my relationship with this sofa."

"Alright. Then you can have no objection to watching me try on a bunch of outfits. You're going to reupholster the sofa that is Mindy Lahiri," she announces with a flourish gesturing at herself. "We'll go to the mall after school. Chico's here we come."

Before he can argue, she rises from her seat and ducks quickly towards him to give him a peck on the cheek. "I'll buy you a frozen yogurt as a thank you," she says. "Nah. Scratch that. Frozen yogurt's disgusting. We'll get some soft pretzels instead."

He sits on the couch for a while after she's departed, Shakespeare forgotten and still oddly aware of the place on his cheek where a trace of her lip gloss lingers. The thing about being Mindy's lab partner is that it_ is_ horrible. Most of the time. But every once in a while, it isn't.


	5. Chapter 5

"Okay, Danny. What do you think of this one?" Mindy asks swooshing open the changing room curtain.

"It's great. You look nice." He answers, eyes never leaving the newspaper in his lap.

"Go to hell, Danny. You're not even looking," she sighs in exasperation. "I know you don't really want to be here, but you ate that soft pretzel, mister. That's a binding social contract. So help me out!"

"Look," he explains folding his newspaper and putting it away in his backpack. "Keep it simple. Normal clothes. You know, shoes that aren't going to make you complain if you walk 2 blocks. Look nice," and then he adds finally looking up at the outfit she's got on, "Wear anything but what you've got on right now."

"What do you mean?" She asks looking down at the sequined top she's trying on. "This is perfect."

"Yeah. Perfect if you're trying to impress Elton John."

"It's _Sir_ Elton John, Danny. Show some respect." She answers. "Okay, so if this is no good, what do you recommend?"

"Here, try these" He suggests handing her a selection of blouses from a nearby display table of which he imagines Ms. Neuhauser would approve. She mimics slitting her wrists and bleeding out after glancing through his choices, but takes them none-the-less and pulls back the curtain of the changing room.

He is leaning on the doorjamb of the dressing room, only half listening to Mindy's commentary through the curtain when he sees her. Christina. For a minute he is so taken aback that she is here at the Eileen Fisher in Columbus Circle he simply stands dazed and staring. But as her eyes begin to scan the store, he panics. With only the thought that he can't bear to see her again racing through his head, he quickly ducks into Mindy's changing room and snaps the curtain shut behind him. He goes to take a deep breath in relief at his narrow escape when it registers suddenly that he is standing in front of a very naked and very embarrassed Mindy and the air gets caught in his throat causing him to choke and sputter.

"Why are you naked?" He asks in a panicked whisper.

"Why am I naked? This is a changing room, Danny!" Mindy screams scrambling to grab whatever clothes she can reach.

"Yeah, but why are you _all_ the way naked?" He asks frantically shifting his eyes to the floor and then ceiling and then to the floor once more.

"I was taking advantage of the 3 way mirrors to assess my figure," she hisses. "Not that that's any of your business. What are you doing in here? What are you _still_ doing in here?! Get out!"

He turns to acquiesce but stops short of pulling open the curtain at the memory that somewhere, just beyond it, is Christina. Instead he throws his hands over his eyes and tries to buy himself some time. "Do you mean get out of the changing room? Or out of the store? Should I leave the mall all together?" He rambles stalling.

"Just get out of here! Oh my god, this is so mortifying." Mindy moans and Danny really does feel terrible at how miserable she sounds.

"Listen, here's the thing," he begins turning back towards her and peaking through his fingers, finding to his relief that Mindy's managed to scramble into jeans and her sweater in the few moments he's been shielding his eyes. "There's a girl out there I don't want to run into, sort of an ex-girlfriend. We didn't really end well…" he trails off wanting to convey the importance of avoiding Christina to Mindy without exposing too much of his still very fresh pain.

Mindy narrows her eyes at this and puts her hand onto her hip. She uses her free hand to roughly poke his chest, "Oh I see how it is," she begins poking along for emphasis. "You're some kind cool player who can just hook up with whoever. You probably led that poor girl on, told her you'd love her forever, and then broke her heart. And now you want me to help you avoid a few awkward moments with her. No way, man," she finishes grabbing him by the elbow and moving to open the curtain, "We are going out there and making this right."

"No, no, Mindy wait," he pleads desperately. But it's too late. The damage is done. Not 2 seconds after they emerge from the dressing room does Christina notice them. Not surprising given the small scene they are putting on with Mindy dragging Danny from the changing room as he struggles to get free of her grasp.

"Danny?" Christina calls out stilling his struggle instantly. Miserably he turns to face her, heart in his throat. "Christina," he acknowledges sulkily looking down at the beige carpeting beneath him.

"It's really good to see you," she presses on moving tentatively towards him, "After everything that happened, you know with Pauly," she adds in a lowered voice, "Well, I didn't think I'd ever see you again. How are you?"

"Fine," he answers sadly. But his miserable reply barely registers next to Mindy's loud voice that rings out, "He's great, better than great. Right honey?" She asks through gritted teeth hiding behind a gigantic smile. She holds his gaze for a second too long and he know she's asking him to trust her on this one.

"Yes. Better than great," he answers back robotically, trying to send his own wordless message of 'What the hell are you doing' back to her.

"And who are you?" Christina asks, the warm soft quality of her voice from a moment ago replaced with something a bit less friendly.

"I'm Mindy. Danny's girlfriend," Mindy lies fluidly. Danny thinks he might have sprained a neck muscle with the double take her words elicit. He wonders what happened to the vengeful spirit of the changing room.

"His girlfriend," Christina repeats looking uncomfortably between the pair of them. "I didn't realize you were already seeing somebody at your new school, Danny." Her tone is almost accusatory which Danny finds a little rich given she'd been the one to cheat on him, with his buddy no less. "That didn't take long."

"It was sudden," Mindy warbles hanging off his arm and batting her eyelashes up at him, "But we both just knew there was something special between us. Didn't we, love?"

"Yeah. Yeah," he agrees warming to his part in the charade. He pulls Mindy close and plants a kiss onto the top of her head. He's acting of course, but he hopes she can feel the real affection he feels for her in this moment.

"Well I'm glad you're happy, Danny. I really am," Christina says sounding anything but. "Maybe we can get together sometime and catch up." She finishes hopefully.

He's saved a response by Mindy who answers, "Definitely. We'd love that."

"Okay then, bye," Christina says in defeat giving them a sad little wave and several backward glances before disappearing out into the mall.

When she's finally passed from view, Mindy turns in Danny's arms and gives him a quick hug before stepping back and out of his personal space. "Danny, I am so sorry. When you said your ex was out here I just assumed you'd been the jerk in the relationship."

"Jeez. Thanks!" He says sarcastically though there's not much sting to his response as he's still beaming at her stupidly.

"I had a boyfriend who cheated on me once. Well only one that I know of anyway," she adds with a grimace. "It sucks."

"Yeah it does," he readily agrees. "He was an idiot for treating you badly," he adds offhandedly though he really, really means it.

They stand for a moment just grinning at one another, a weird energy surging between them. It's not a new sensation either. In the past few weeks since they've been hanging out he's been feeling it more and more often. He thinks it may be on account of how different they are. Surely a friendship where the people are so different from one another is bound to feel strange every once in awhile. But even as he's considering and accepting this explanation he can't help but feel there's something important he's forgetting. Some key detail he's failing to take into account.

As he waits by the entrance half an hour later for Mindy to finish buying a handful of Ms. Neuhauser approved tops, one of the sales clerks approaches him.

"Your girlfriend left this in the changing room," he says handing over Mindy's phone.

"She's not my girlfriend," he counters quickly. "That was an act. I would never date that girl," he insists adamantly. He turns at that moment to see Mindy has sidled up beside him. "Here," he says offering her the phone. "You left this in the changing room."

"Yeah, I _heard_." She says angrily plucking the phone from his hand. "Bye," she throws back icily as she marches out of the store.


	6. Chapter 6

It's been 2 weeks since Danny helped Mindy shop for 'boring old folks' clothes (her words) and though he can't figure out why, she is definitely giving him the cold shoulder. This frat party, hosted by some cousin of Pete's at CCNY, if you could call charging someone $20 to drink warm keg beer out a fish bowl 'hosting', was the first he'd seen of her out of bio lab. He also can't figure out why it bothers him so much. It's not like he misses hearing about what fabulous chemistry she thinks the school's wrestling team has or what an adorable pair she thinks North West and Prince George will make one day _"It would be uniting British and American royalty, Danny"_. He definitely doesn't miss being subjected to her insane game plan to win over Casey. Seriously what kind of person does stuff like that?

If he does miss her sudden and unexpected friendship, and he's not saying he does, it's probably because he's so damn lonely these days. Who knew somebody could be lonely packed alongside millions of other people on a tiny island? Twice already this week, he's bought tickets for the ferry back to Staten only to back out on the trip last minute. He misses Stevie and the gang but he doesn't really want to see them either. If he's being honest he doesn't really know what it is he wants. He doesn't really miss his old life and it seems impossible that he's missing Mindy. It's this prevailing sense of isolation that inspired him to agree to come out to this horrible party in the first place.

He watches from afar as Mindy argues furiously with some guy from the football team. In her agitation, she struggles out of some expensive looking leather jacket to reveal her bare arms. The creep all but drools ogling her smooth dark skin and Danny rises from the threadbare couch he's been sitting on to come over and serve as backup in the event that Mindy needs any help fending off the inebriated jock. He's just set his untouched bowl of flat beer atop an overturned milk crate that's serving as an end table when Casey appears from somewhere gesticulating to the football player to get lost while putting his arm protectively around Mindy. He looks like a mess to Danny, clearly drunk and disheveled, but Mindy beams at Casey fondly nestling into the crook of his arm. Amazingly it appears her crazy plan has worked. Of course it did; she's Mindy. He gives a frustrated huff, slouching back into the couch, and gingerly tasting his beer only to think better of it and spit the foul sip back into his bowl.

"Hi Danny."

His attention is drawn from Mindy and Casey by Betsy who has come to perch on the old sofa, not quite committing to fully sitting on the stained and dilapidated piece of furniture. Probably a wise decision, Danny thinks.

"Hi Bets. What's up?"

The petite brunette seems anxious, eyes shifting from her hands in her lap to his eyebrows and back again never really making eye contact. "I just wanted to come over and tell you how much I liked your pictures," she says a bit breathlessly.

He sits up a bit reaching out to Betsy putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay? You seems kinda nervous," Danny says, concern distracting him from her words for a moment. "Wait. What? What pictures?"

Betsy shrugs his arm of her shoulder and laughs nervously while shuffling slightly further from him on the sofa, "The ones on the internet," she supplies blushing furiously.

His attempt to get further information from her is interrupted in the form of Morgan who chooses this moment to come barreling into Danny on the couch. "Holy crap, Dr. C!" he exclaims. "I knew you were into fitness," Morgan says, grabbing at Danny and moving his hands over his biceps admiringly, "but you look amazing…And I don't mean that in a gay way at all," he finishes with a significant look at Tamra who along with a handful of others at the party have made their way over to the couch to see what all the commotion is about.

"What pictures? What the hell are you all talking about?" But his question is answered a moment later when Peter shoves his phone into Danny's hands. Looking down he sees himself in miniature, gaze looking thoughtfully at something off-screen, baseball bat stretched high above his head, and absolutely, totally and completely naked. Nervously he lifts his thumb and swipes it across the phones' display to reveal photo after photo of himself in the nude.

Christina had talked him into this little photo shoot last summer for some photography class she was taking at the community center. She'd promised no one would see the photos but the teacher, though he should have know even then how far to trust her promises. He'd been skeptical but she'd distracted him pretty easily, to be honest, with some nudity of her own.

"Peter," Danny says grabbing at the other boy trying to contain his panic, "how do you erase this?" Danny begins tapping eagerly at the applications on Peter's phone.

"Dude. Those nudie pics are on the internet. You can't erase them." He grabs his phone back from Danny and begins flicking through the pictures. "Hell, why would you even want to? Check out these comments. Are you kidding me? Some chick left a winky face. That's like emoji porn!"

"Cool! Let me see," Morgan begins grabbing for the phone in Peter's hand. After a little struggle Morgan holds the phone up victoriously "Got it!" Only to look down a moment later and exclaim, "Oops! I think I accidently Instagramed that one."

This is confirmed a moment later as seemingly everyone at the party's phones chime the alert of a new message. "Peter," Danny begins in whispered panic, "how many people follow you on Instagram?"

"Um," Peter trails off, "just a couple…hundred." A small group of partygoers, mostly girls Danny recognizes vaguely from school, have begun to form a little circle around the couch and while no one is outwardly staring, he's receiving a number of sidelong glances and knowing smirks.

"Alright, this is ridiculous," Danny says losing his temper. "You all came over her for a show? Well I'm going give you one! Is this what you want?" He yells gesturing at his torso as he begins unbuttoning his shirt. He's so tired of everything: crazy ex-girlfriends, deadbeat dads, weird classmates, infuriating girls who stop talking to you for no good reason. If these perverts want to come over and gape at him, well then let them.

"Okay. That's enough of that," Mindy's soft voice cuts into his self-pitying inner monologue as she places a small warm hand on his midriff and shields his exhibition from the now openly staring crowd. "Come on Danny. Let's get you out of here." Danny focuses on the feel of her hand moving across his stomach and into his hand as he allows her to lead him out of the party onto the curb outside.


	7. Chapter 7

They are sitting side by side on the curb outside of the party not speaking. Danny knows he should feel grateful to Mindy for stopping him from making an idiot out of himself in front of half the school (well an even bigger idiot than he'd managed to be in the few short moments before she'd rescued him) but he doesn't. As he peeks at her covertly, all he feels is embarrassed, and he's surprised to realize, angry. "Why have you been ignoring me?" He barks at her at last.

Mindy gives a start at this, clearly not expecting the hostility in his tone or for him to so bluntly bring up her recent coldness towards him. "I haven't been ignoring you," she returns icily staring straight out into the mostly deserted street.

"Yes you have. You're doing it right now!" Danny insists in frustration noting she still won't look at him.

"I don't know why you care," Mindy mutters looking at the ground and poking at a bit of loose asphalt on the road with her shoe, "It's not like we're friends anyway." She says all of this so quietly Danny can barely hear her.

No, he thinks. They're not really friends. At least she's not like any friend he's ever had before anyhow. But if they aren't friends than why does it bother him so much that she's avoiding him? "I just want to know why you're so angry with me?" He asks sincerely.

She gives a long-suffering sigh before beginning reluctantly, "Listen, I know that I don't have this perfect, skinny, hot, body. I'm not tall and blond with blue eyes like Christina and all the other girls you probably date. I don't need to hear it from you, okay? It's nothing I haven't heard from every other mean girl in the school before."

She says all this over her shoulder looking away from him so that for a moment he wonders if she's started a conversation about something totally different with someone else. But a shy glance at him a moment later confirms that this little speech, though out of left field, is for him.

"You're self-conscious?" He asks, genuinely surprised. In the short time he's known Mindy he's never once suspected her of being insecure. On the contrary, he's had to encourage her to stop writing 'Mindy Lahiri, future hot doctor' on all of their lab reports. "But you're always, you know, so confident about yourself."

She gives a small huff and folds her arms defensively around herself. It's a move meant to protect but it just leaves her looking more vulnerable than ever. "Yeah well confidence and self-esteem aren't always the same thing," she states sulkily.

"They're not?" Danny feels himself falling further and further out of his depths with this conversation. He looks over to Mindy, sitting so small and dejectedly alongside him and wonders what has happened to the bubbly, sometimes infuriatingly so, girl he's come to know.

"Just cause I know I'm great, doesn't mean everybody else knows it too," she supplies sadly. And then with a tone of accusation turning to look at him at last, "Doesn't mean some people wouldn't be embarrassed to date me."

Danny could almost laugh. "Is that what this is about? When I saw you in the dressing room?" He asks in relief. "Mindy, I didn't mean to see you naked. I thought you knew that." He chuckles quietly to himself. "Besides, Pete just sent a naked picture of me to the whole school, so we can be Even Steven anytime you like," he adds.

"Danny," she says accusingly, "I heard you tell that clerk you'd never date me. It's like you were embarrassed by even the idea of it," she finishes looking down at her hands again

"Mindy," Danny starts eagerly. Now that he knows what the issue is he is anxious to put her mind at rest. "You have no reason to be self-conscious. I mean I wasn't really looking; I'm a gentleman" he qualifies quickly, "but from what I saw you looked good."

"So why did you say you'd never date me?" He's encouraged to see she no longer looks angry, only curious.

"I don't know," he stalls, not anxious to start a new argument with her so soon after she's begun talking to him again. "You kept asking the dressing room attendant for different sizes and she had to shush you for singing along to the background music a couple of times…" he trails off.

But apparently finding Mindy's personality embarrassing is a far lesser offense than being critical of her body, because Mindy just shrugs this explanation off with the remark, "If they don't want people singing along, they shouldn't play so much Katy Perry."

Even as he's shaking his head at how absurd she can sometimes be, he finds himself smiling fondly at his ridiculous friend. In an uncharacteristic gesture, he leans into the space between them and gives her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I may not have asked for it Mindy, but I'm glad we're friends."


End file.
